The Sun And The Moon
by dirtyShoes
Summary: The Sun: Krypton's last daughter, Kara Zor-El. The Moon: Saiyan royalty's last Prince, Trunks. Two celestially empowered beings, born of other worlds, might just have what it takes to save ours if they work together. Anyone can decide to not believe in fate and strive to shape their own future, but it takes a special kind to rewrite history.
1. Ruins

Author's note / Disclaimer: I would firstly like to say thank you for taking the time to read this story. It is, with pleasure, that I submit to you something that I have not yet done before and that is to put a DC character into the DBZ world. I especially wanted to read a story where Kara or Kal ends up in a variation of Toriyama's universe but it's mostly always the other way around so I was left with no choice, haha!

Anyway, this Kara deviates from Issue 7 of her titular series in The New 52. It helps if you've read it, but I don't believe it's entirely necessary to enjoy this story. Also, unlike most of my previous stories, I am going to be active in answering questions posed in PM's and reviews related to this story. I'll also keep a close eye out for people skilled in providing constructive criticism and may consider consulting a beta reader who is also willing to contribute good ideas to this story since collaboration has the potential to make things even better.

And, lastly, I do not own any DC or Toriyama creative works.

-"text"- = reader translated Kryptonian

"text" = regular dialogue

_'text' = thoughts_

**_"The Sun And The Moon"_**

**Chapter One: Ruins**

Kara Zor-El bid a tearful farewell to her parents, friends, and all the long passed families who had survived inside the city of Argo, following Krypton's destruction, as she watched the ruins of said city drift ever closer to oblivion in the tightening spiral of the blue sun's gravitational pull. Her old life, still fresh in her mind, was gone from this world but would live on in her heart. At least now she knew, without a doubt, Kal really was who he said he was. It was going to be awkward apologizing to the grown man who, from her perspective, had been a baby with a poopy diaper less than a week earlier but, she figured, since there was the more pressing issue of a _Worldkiller_ crashing the party of her cousin's adopted planet that he would give her a pass for helping him save it.

With that thought in mind, the last daughter of Krypton summoned the remainder of her waning yellow sun power to fly back through the space portal and attempt to retrace her path back to Earth. She didn't notice the scorch mark on one of the emitters or the tiny sparkling embers that were as red as the careless beams she had unleashed during her encounter with that female _Worldkiller_.

Kara nearly lost the breath she still held as the expected freezing sensation she felt on the first trip through the gate was replaced with electrically charged fire. She was hurled forward into normal space, after a moment, and let herself drift at speed while she gathered her bearing. That had been entirely unexpected but whatever worry she may have had about it faded when she noticed the stars were as they should be and that she was once again in proximity to Earth's solar system. She didn't even register the absence of this side's portal. The pain had significantly sapped her strength so she needed to hurry and get back before it gave out.

Her eyes widened to saucer like shapes when she finally spotted her destination. Without realizing how she had done it, her telescopic vision had brought the blue and white planet into extreme focus - only to reveal that there wasn't very much blue or white left of it. Dark clouds and dried up wasteland covered most of it's surface. Was she too late? Had the _Worldkiller_ overcome her cousin and laid waste that quickly? Her fear slowly abated, as the warmth of the yellow sun did it's job on her, and was replaced with determination to find out. With a furrowed brow and steeled resolve in her eyes, she rocketed herself across the remaining distance to Earth. Her furious entry into the atmosphere was likened to a meteor crashing into an ocean; the penetration sent a shockwave of force that cleared the black smog for miles in a ripple effect.

The blonde teenager exhaled the long breath she had held since leaving Argo as she took in the sight of an Earth far different than the one she had landed on only days ago. Sunlight illuminated the ruined skyline of an expansive metropolitan city. Glass, concrete, and steel mingled in the jagged gashes of high rise buildings and piles of rubble littering the streets below. This wasn't her planet, nor were these her people, but Kara couldn't help the tears that welled up at the fringe of her vision. She felt responsible. -"Kal...if only I had been faster, I'm-"-

Her attention was suddenly and immediately drawn to the sonic boom created in the distant atmosphere followed by the rumble of a collapsing building. She shifted her gaze toward the dusty event and unconsciously employed her X-Ray vision. At the heart of the destruction she saw a boy, around her age, throw a slab of steel reinforced concrete off of himself before launching into self powered flight. His blonde hair whipped about his face as his fierce teal eyes focused on something away from Kara's path of sight. She followed it up toward the sky before identifying two beings that appeared to be related. A blonde girl and brunette boy, with similar hairstyles and odd taste in clothing, slowed their flight as the blonde boy in the light purple jacket reached altitude and met them above the city. It wasn't her intention to eavesdrop, but her ears seemed to have a mind of their own today.

"Tsk, tsk, you never learn, do you, Trunks?" the brunette said in a flat, yet amused, tone. He had his arms folded over his chest. "What do you think, Eighteen? Should we make today the day?" he added with a sinister smirk.

"You're boring me just as much as the whiny kid, Seventeen," the blonde replied with her half-lidded gaze. "He's still years away from threatening us, remember? Weren't you the one who's been complaining about having zero challenges? If you want to kill him right now, that's fine with me, but I'd better not hear a word from you about it afterwards."

The boy with blonde spiky hair came to a halt about one quarter of a mile away from the pair. A fiery golden aura burst into visibility around him before he spoke in a voice shaking with anger. "I'm not just some fly on the wall! If you think I'll make this easy for you, then you're in for a disappointment ... hrrrRRAAAAHH!" Following that war cry, he unsheathed the sword on his back, closed the distance between them, and stunned them with a diagonal slash that cut gashes into their clothing - all in one explosively fluid movement.

The alien language they spoke made no sense to Kara but it was obvious who was against who. The question was; which, if any, of them had the answers she sought? And, for that matter, how was she going to get those answers? The brunette crashed into a decaying spire, after the blonde boy kicked him in the stomach, before said boy peppered his enemy's crash site with a salvo of solid light energy orbs that turned out to be explosive. _'Well,' _Kara thought_, 'If they kill each other, then I'll be back at square one. Better step in and break it up before it escalates any further...'_

"You ripped my blouse, you little shit!" Eighteen screeched as she charged at the young swordsman. Trunks rushed in to meet her, after sheathing his blade, with a fist cocked back to counter her own. Then, appearing out of nowhere, a blonde girl clad in blue and red deftly caught their two fists in each of her palms.

Kara grimaced as her knuckles turned white and pain shot up both of her arms. They were much stronger than she had anticipated. She started to rethink her decision to get involved as she struggled to hold them back.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Eighteen gritted through her clenched teeth.

"Zalish khāp, si rrip sokao nahgrhahdh kulahn krep si ehwor? Khāp sem bem ahvrig tiv raozh. Īv rrip kehp tiv fehl?"

Trunks, Eighteen, and Seventeen - who had already dug his way out of the wreckage - all wore similar expressions of confusion on their faces. "A friend of yours?" Seventeen asked Trunks as he indicated the newcomer with an incline of his head in her direction.

The blonde boy stopped pressing his fist into Kara's palm, much to her relief, and lowered his arm before floating himself back a few feet.

"That's a stupid question, Bro," Eighteen said, mockingly, as she followed suit by removing her fist as well. "All of his friends are dead. We killed _every - last - one_," she said with punctuation and a seductively evil grin. It was an intentional effort to push Trunks' buttons.

"Android bitch!" Trunks spat those words like they were the most foul tasting thing one could have in their mouth.

"Urvish!" the newcomer yelled in a commanding tone as she glared at him from over her shoulder.

Her eyes darted between him and the two not-technically-androids. She was keeping a careful watch over all three of them. She had to be a formidable opponent if she was able to step in and stop them just like that. Trunks blew out a breath of frustration and collected himself. "I don't know her," he said after a moment. "I don't even recognize the language."

Seventeen's eyes lit up. "In that case, I call dibs," he said before carefully floating over to her with his hands up in the universal "I surrender" gesture. "What say you and me go somewhere _private_ so I can properly welcome you to Earth?" he added with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows.

Kara turned her nose up in disgust. She recognized that look and that tone.

"A-Are you serious? Is he serious?" Trunks turned his head to the blonde android to ask her incredulously.

"God, you're such a pig, Seventeen," Eighteen snorted while rolling her eyes. "What happened to 'Hey, let's go kick around the kid today'?" she added, lowering her voice as deep as it would go in a passable imitation of her brother.

"Oh yeah..." Seventeen drawled before shrugging it off. "Get lost, kid. We'll settle up another day," he said, making a shooing gesture with his hand. "I got a date to - guhhhh!"

Kara pressed her fist further into Seventeen's stomach and forced the last bit of air from his lungs while she spoke in a low threatening tone. -"You disgust me. I'll never..."-

"...zhadif zhaol ish udol fün!" the blue and red clad bombshell punctuated her rejection with a kick to Seventeen's groin area. His eyes bulged from their sockets as small tear droplets leaked from the fringes of his eyelids.

Trunks cringed slightly in response; though not because he pitied the brunette android. His hands unconsciously moved to guard his package as another instinctively male reflex kicked in.

"Not that he didn't deserve that, but I still won't tolerate anybody that isn't _me_ humiliating my idiot brother!" Eighteen yelled as she went on the offensive against the other blonde girl.

Kara brought her arms up to defend but was surprised when the swordsman stepped in to upper cut her attacker before she got within reach. He flashed her a roguish grin before saying something she couldn't understand. His point had gotten across to her, though. Together they went on the offensive; she took the pervy boy who had hit on her while he took the girl who had been mocking him.

Trunks used Eighteen's staggered state to press his advantage. His blurry fists succeeded in making it through her hastily erected defenses and pummeling her from midsection to face. He finished the furious combo with a wide angle palm blast at point blank range and a series of sword slashes so fast that invisible blades of wind blew away most of the cloud of smoke that had sprung up around the girl. A vein in Trunks' forehead throbbed slightly as beads of sweat rolled down his brow and he caught his breath. The only way to be effective against artificially powered beings that never ran out of energy was to go all out, all of the time, for as long as peak power could be maintained. "Damn it..." he cursed under his breath when he saw that she had managed to cross her arms in front of her head and successfully defend. He had expended a lot of energy already and the girl was barely starting to get serious.

"You're going to pay for that, punk" Eighteen said through gritted teeth. She waited for him to blink and then launched a furious assault.

Kara deflected a jab with the flat of her right palm then blocked a low kick with her left knee and blasted the brunette boy away with her red eye beams. She kept the heat on him until she heard the pained shouting of her new ally, who seemed to be having a difficult time. Her eyes searched briefly before finding him doubled over the other blonde girl's knee under the shadow of a dark cloud. Her momentary lapse in focus cost her as her opponent paid her back with a very effective haymaker which sent her plummeting to the abandoned streets of the ghostly city. Concrete crumbled against her back as her uncontrolled flight drove her through two buildings before she slammed against a sturdy wall in a basement just below the surface. Clouds of dust distorted the dim light shining through the hole her crash had made. _'Decision making time,'_ she thought as she pulled herself out of the wall crater and brushed some debris off of her shoulder. Her swordsman friend was obviously fatigued. She had no way of knowing how long he had been fighting before she had arrived. It was also apparent that he was her best bet at getting answers since the other two seemed to prefer the continuation of hostilities as opposed to establishing communication. With her mind made up, she employed her X-ray vision to search and then locked on to the two partners, who had decided to double team her ally, before carefully unleashing two eye blasts at them from her position under cover.

Trunks was blown back several dozen feet by the concussive force of red energy that detonated against the Red Ribbon siblings who had been putting him through his paces. Blood ran from a gash on his forehead and a split lip. He could feel Super Saiyan waning quickly. Never one to waste an opportunity, though, he used their distraction to focus his energy before calling their attention back to him. "Hey, assholes!" he shouted as he brought his hands up, making sure they looked, before he squeezed his eyes shut. "Solar Flare!"

Kara halted her rapid ascent right beside the cylindrical peak of an old tower when everything became a blinding shade of white. To her surprise, her advanced eyesight automatically compensated by filtering out the excessive light and she was able to see her two assailants grasping at their faces while suffering the full effect of the swordsman's trick. Then, said swordsman appeared beside her and grabbed her wrist as if to lead her away. He must have expected her to be blinded as well because he verbally announced his presence so she would recognize his voice and come willingly. Needless to say, he was quite surprised when she turned and acknowledged him with eye contact. He quickly shook off his amazement in favor of saying something while gesturing toward the two people who were still reeling with blindness. She nodded her head in understanding when she realized he was trying to tell her that it was only temporary and that they needed to escape while they still had the chance.

With that settled, Trunks let go of her wrist and rounded before propelling himself into subsonic flight toward a horizon blanketed with ominously dark clouds and distant lightning. When he saw how easily she matched his speed, he grinned. He would have broken the sound barrier, as a playful challenge, but he didn't want to give away which direction they were headed by creating a sonic boom for the twins to follow.

The young daughter of Zor-El followed the sword wielding boy closely as he led her away from the dead city onto a sky trail above wastelands with rocky terrain and dried out soil. She began to have doubts about her initial theory involving the _Worldkiller_. The degree of degradation she was seeing indicated things had been like this for a very long time; years, perhaps even decades, had transformed this formerly beautiful planet. There was no way all of this ruin could have been created in the dozen or so hours that she had spent out in space. Her mood turned even more grim as she entertained the idea of yet again being displaced in time. She prayed to Rao that she was wrong.

"It's just up ahead," Trunks said over the wind. Even though he knew she didn't understand a single word that came out of his mouth, he had been compelled to capture her attention and distract her from whatever dark thoughts had made her expression turn sour. It seemed today was an especially bad day for her as well. He sighed as he thought about the bad news he still had to deliver to his mom. He hadn't been able to scavenge any of the parts she had asked for because of his encounter with the twins. "Here we are," he said as he slowed to a halt above a canyon with a dried up river bed at the bottom.

Kara followed his slow descent into the canyon until he landed on a ledge below the cliff face with a cave opening dug out of it. She suddenly had doubts about following a strange boy, that she had just met, into a cave on an alien planet. He must've noticed her apprehension because he paused to give her a reassuring look before his spiky blonde hair suddenly fell down into mostly neat lavender tresses. It wasn't just his hair that changed, either. His fierce looking pupil-less teal eyes became a deep crystalline blue and his bulging muscles shrunk noticeably. His entire presence became instantly less threatening and he flashed a genuine smile showing her his amusement at the stupefied expression that she knew now covered her face. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she averted her eyes.

Trunks shook his head and sniggered before leading the way into the place he had called home for the last few years. Motion sensors detected his presence and immediately lit the curving path in crisp fluorescent light. He could hear the girl's light footsteps echoing off beat to his own as they trekked further along the downward slope. Eventually the tunnel opened up into a very large chamber with a path running through the stalagmite formations on the floor and the distant sound of rushing water reached his ears from further ahead.

'_Wow...it's amazing in here,'_ Kara thought to herself. She finally understood, at least partly, why he would choose to make his home within this network of caves. A supply of fresh water was vital in any environment and she had barely seen any at all, fresh or not, during her brief time on the surface. With her X-ray vision, she found the source to be a naturally occurring spring hidden deep within the rocky territory. The boy grunted when she accidentally walked into him. He had stopped at the front door to a large, man-made, domed structure while she wasn't paying attention. She looked sheepish before excusing herself.

"Sokao zhalish," the girl said to him, in apparent apology. Trunks waved her off before replying, "It's fine but, _man_; we gotta do something about this speech problem." The blonde nodded her head in agreement, seeming to have made the connection. "Nahvruht khāp," she said. The last survivor of the Saiyan race simply shrugged before placing his right palm on the bio scanner mounted beside the entrance to the current Capsule Corporation headquarters. The door slid open after the light on the device turned green and he led the foreign girl inside. "Well, this is it," he said after turning around and indicating the unkempt living room with a wave of his arm. There were old newspapers and magazines spread haphazardly across the coffee table as well as a few schematics sitting beside a not-quite-empty mug that looked to have been there for a few days. A basket of unfolded laundry took up one of the seats on the ratty looking sofa and the television looked liked it had seen better days. In fact, every piece of furniture and domestic appliance within the dwelling appeared extremely outdated. "Hope you don't mind the mess. It's been years since we've had any guests. Hey, Mom, we got company!" he yelled after tilting his head in the direction of the arched hallway.

Kara quirked an eyebrow as a metallic clatter and hiss of a sliding door preceded the appearance of a disheveled woman from the hall. The woman's soot covered white coat was singed around the edges and the goggles she lifted away from her eyes were nearly as big as her head. Awkward silence ruled over the group before a sly grin settled onto the older woman's face.

"Oh, you two must be _serious_ if you brought her all the way here to meet _me_. Have you decided on a theme for your wedding or were you just going to elope like your father and I did?" Bulma said that last bit with all the exaggerated wonder of a girl in love while making doe eyes at them. "With legs like _that_, I'd throw caution to the wind too, Son," she added with a suggestive smirk.

Rolling his eyes, Trunks replied in a decidedly unamused tone. "Teasing me in front of her is pointless since she doesn't speak our language," he said while folding his arms over his chest. "Good try, though," he added.

Interest piqued, the reigning queen of the Capsule empire shuffled forward to get a closer look at their guest. "Hm...a foreigner you say? _How_ foreign is she? Miles or lightyears?"

"_Well_...she did sort of descend from the clouds..." Trunks said as he absently rubbed his chin between thumb and forefinger.

Bulma produced a pen and scruffy looking notepad from her lab coat, then began jotting things down as her son ticked them off.

"...at least as strong as a Super Saiyan...eye beam shooting...armor-ish outfit...other wordly proportions -". He paused abruptly before exclaiming, "Of course! It was so obvious, I couldn't see it at first! Seventeen has _never_ shown any interest in _human_ girls; actually, I was beginning to wonder about his preference - the way he looks at me sometimes is scary... Anyway, she absolutely _has to be_ an alien! It's the only thing that makes any sense! Wait, no - no, I guess she could also still be a man...but those proportions just don't add up... Aw, who am I kidding? _Gohan_ was the problem solving and ass kicking math wiz, not _me_. All I know how to do is break things and get hurt," he said, dejectedly, before plopping down on the sofa. The old couch frame buckled under his weight and dropped his butt onto the floor. "I hate my life."

Bulma's face was a cross between strained smile and cringe as she ushered the young girl toward her lab, in the back, while attempting to laugh it off. "Don't mind him, dear. He tends to get mopey after a concussion, or two, and, from the look of it, you guys ran into those filthy abominations today. Come on and let's see what I can do about fixing this communication problem of ours."

Kara looked worriedly back at the boy who still had blood running down his face from the gash on the side of his forehead, but allowed herself to be led away by the friendly, albeit eccentric, lady. She was escorted into a workshop that was even more dingy than the front of the house and offered a seat on a swivel chair situated beside a stainless steel table overflowing with mechanical clutter. Then the lady excused herself and was gone for several minutes before returning with the boy, who now had a significantly wrapped head and a glass of water in hand.

"Ugh..." Trunks droned before popping the pills his mother had given him and washing them down with the water.

The older woman gave Kara a reassuring smile before opening a metal cabinet beneath one of the many workbenches and bending over as she dug around inside of it for what seemed like a long time. The last daughter of Krypton may not have spoken these people's language, but she recognized the frustrated mutterings of the woman as the string of curses that they were. A moment after that, however, the lady's skyward behind paused from it's rhythmic swaying as it's owner punctuated her success at finding whatever-it-was-she-had-been-looking-for with an outstretched leg and a "Yatta!" - whatever that meant.

Bulma pulled the basket with her old collection of scouters out of the darkness and used her free arm to sweep a pile of junk from the counter top to the floor before she set the basket down on the newly cleaned surface. She first demonstrated by lifting one to her right hear, and securing it to her head, before tossing one to her son, who fumbled with his before doing the same, and then finally passing one off to the girl. The blonde alien hesitated only briefly before she followed suit. Bulma then indicated the big red power button with an index finger before activating it and causing the transparent eye screen to come alive with illuminated text scrolling across its surface.

"Wow, Mom, what are these things?" Trunks asked as he marveled at the information about the environment being relayed to his ocular.

"Remember the stories I used to tell you about Goku and how I met your father because of him?" Bulma asked her son. When he nodded in affirmation, she continued. "Well, these things are replicas of the scouter he used to use to measure power levels when he was still employed by Frieza. That was before he learned how to sense energy on his own, obviously."

"Ok, cool...but that doesn't explain why you gave these to us," he replied.

"_Why_? Because they've got universal translators built into them, of course," the bluenette told her son, as if it had been obvious. "You didn't think everyone in the galaxy spoke the same language, did you? That would just be way too convenient."

"Huh? Uh, no...of course not! That's absurd, right? Eh-heh..." he said with a weak laugh. _ 'Shut up, Trunks! Just shut up, already! You've embarrassed yourself enough for one day.'_

"Right..." Bulma said, glancing sidelong at her son. "Anyway, the neural link should be finished decoding her language any second now. Then, we'll all be able to understand each other as long as we're wearing these scouters. Nifty little gadgets. Good thing I keep stuff like this around."

"Hoarding is more like it..." Trunks muttered under his breath.

"Oh, wow, I could understand you just now," Kara said with an awed grin plastered onto her face. "Is that what these things are for?" she asked as she pointed at her own piece of headgear. "I've never seen this kind of technology before. You humans are more advanced than I thought you'd be."

"Aha! So she is from another planet," Trunks said triumphantly. "Oh, that is - what I meant to say was - crap... Uh, hi! I'm Trunks Brief and this is my Mom," he said, inclining his head slightly in embarrassment.

"Bulma," the thirty-something human woman introduced herself with a satisfied smile. "And you are?"

"I am Kara Zor-El of the planet Krypton. Thank you for inviting me into your home."

XxxxwwwxxxX

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	2. The Unlucky Number

**A/N: It's back! Thanks to everyone who are keeping up with this! I won't bore you with a long note, but I do want to say that, although this chapter is going to start off kinda slow, it WILL heat up significantly. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer:** All characters/settings/trademarks referenced from Dragonball/Z/GT and DC entertainment are the respective properties of their original creators.

**_"The Sun And The Moon"_**

**Chapter Two: The Unlucky Number**

It had been two weeks since Kara's return to Earth and subsequent encounter with her new allies. With Trunks and his mother's help, she had gotten a grasp of their spoken language so she wasn't as dependent on the scouter as she initially had been. With a visual aid program, developed by Bulma, she had learned to associate common images with their human terminology. It had been a surprise, both to her and them, that she possessed a photographic memory and was able to easily assimilate the information she was given. There were still some culturally specific word combinations and slang that she didn't understand, but she got by. She considered that a stroke of luck after learning how fragile the scouters were. Bulma assured both her and Trunks that, if they were to have another encounter with the androids, the helpful gadgets would most likely not survive.

She had been quite shocked to learn that, although it was the androids who had struck first, it was the humans who were responsible for the widespread degradation of the planet's ecosystem. According to Bulma, the world government had chosen to use it's military's arsenal of nuclear weapons in a several months long campaign against the artificially enhanced humanoids. This was done in the wake of the Earth's best super powered defenders falling against the might of the two hell raisers.

Kara recalled the conversation between Bulma, Trunks, and herself on the first night of her arrival.

_(The three scouter wearing individuals sat around the, now cleared off, coffee table in an official gathering to exchange stories and get themselves on the same page. Kara and Trunks sat, with a space open between them, on a newer sofa that had been pulled out of a capsule, to replace the one Trunks had broken earlier, while Bulma made herself comfortable on a plush armchair opposite them._

_The oldest member of the group took a sip from her fresh cup of caffeinated beverage before setting it atop a coaster on the withered surface of the table. Now that the excitement had mostly worn off, the telltales of sleep deprivation were more noticeable on her. Eyes dry and bloodshot, from being open for too long. Slight tremble of her hands. Frequent yawning. It was all there, Kara noticed, as the bluenette began her story._

_"It was fifteen years ago that our world began to change into what you saw out there...and it was those two people, the ones you helped my son fight against today, who got the ball rolling. The twins, Seventeen and Eighteen, are the only two successfully constructed cyborgs, that we know of, in a long list of androids built by a madman for a terrorist organization called The Red Ribbon Revolutionaries._

_"There's a lot of history with the Red Ribbon so you'll have to excuse me for not going through the entire lengthy explanation of it right away. The gist, however, is that they were all arrested and put on trial for crimes against humanity after a personal friend of mine thwarted their attempt to overthrow the, then current, administration. That happened about eight years before the twins made their first public appearance," Bulma added before taking another sip of her coffee._

_"Yeah, it was my master Gohan's father, Goku, who took them out," Trunks supplied, for Kara's benefit. "He was only like twelve or thirteen years old at the time. I remember hearing stories of all the amazing things he did before he got sick..."_

_Bulma cleared her throat while giving her son a mild glare, in reprimand, for his interruption. "Yes, Goku was truly an amazing person and I'll get to him in a minute._

_"The Red Ribbon, on it's own, had been nothing but an overzealous group of thugs, with a wealthy backing, until Doctor Gero took up with them. Doctor Gero was the madman, that I mentioned earlier, who was responsible for Seventeen and Eighteen's creation. He also was, it shames me to admit, the former head researcher for a small medical subsidiary of my father's company, the Capsule Corporation. That branch was supposed to have been developing an artificial intelligence that, coupled with advanced robotics, would be able to perform difficult surgeries with consistent accuracy never before seen from human doctors. It was supposed to have been the next big thing that allowed Capsule to take another industry by storm._

_"If only my father had been more involved in that project...but he hadn't the slightest interest in trying to break into the medical industry. The board members wouldn't let it go, though, so he eventually relented. He left them in charge and trusted them to keep a close watch over the project while he focused on getting his aerospace division kick started. When news broke about Gero's indictment, our family was one of the last to find out. We eventually learned that the board had caught on to him and his side projects early on, but decided to keep quiet and sweep it under the rug as long he continued to produce the results they wanted. It was a fiasco. The media slandered the whole of Capsule Corporation, the courts dragged my father into the witch hunt, and the people boycotted us. We nearly lost everything._

_"And, in all the chaos, Gero managed to skip town after posting bail. He went so deep underground that nobody could find him. I can only assume that he stayed hidden for so long because of Red Ribbon's protection. For all we know, he could've been in league with them even before his time at Capsule came to an end. So, in the end, my family is indirectly responsible for all of this. My husband, our friends, and millions of people are dead because of my family's failure," she added, choking back a sob._

_Kara fidgeted uncomfortably as the woman poured her heart into the tale. The weight of responsibility she carried for the lives of her people almost mirrored that of her father when he took it upon himself to try and save Argo City. The woman clearly had a big heart._

_"It's okay, Mom," Trunks said after quickly abandoning his seat so he could pat her on the back, reassuringly. "Why don't we tell her about Goku now, yeah?"_

_Bulma smiled even as tears continued to roll down her face. "Goku, that's right," she said after releasing a breath in an attempt to compose herself. "Goku was a good man and a hero to many. He accomplished so many terrific and difficult feats during his life. He was our champion. He never gave up; even in the most hopeless of situations, he would find a way to keep on going until he succeeded. Unfortunately, he didn't even have a chance to defend us when Gero's legacy was unleashed. Even my husband who was, at one point, Goku's bitter rival had a hard time dealing with his passing. I didn't mention it before but, Goku and his son, Gohan, and Trunks and his father, Vegeta, all belong to a race of warriors from the planet Vegeta. My husband was next in line to inherit the throne before their planet was destroyed - which is another story entirely._

_"Anyway, Vegeta confided in me that he felt Goku had gotten robbed of his chance for a true warriors death and he, himself, felt cheated that they were never able to truly settle the score. I wish you could've seen him, Trunks. Your father, I mean. He had trained relentlessly to close the gap between himself and Goku, but still had not unlocked the Super Saiyan transformation when the androids struck. He went willingly into a battle against a foe designed to kill a Super Saiyan without having even attained the legendary power for himself. He was so brave...I still resent him for ignoring my pleas to stay, but that was the kind of man he was - he couldn't stand by, idly, without even trying to do something."_

_Trunks blanched at the revelation. "Are you for real? You never told me that!"_

_"Because I didn't want you to get any ideas about recklessly sacrificing yourself like he did!" Bulma replied in an authoritative tone. "Your father knew he couldn't win against them, so he planned to go down with them. He...he..." Bulma hiccuped as she was wracked with another wave of sobs. "The last words your father ever said to me were that he was finally able to let go of the anger and pain left from Frieza's destruction of the Saiyan home world. He said he finally realized that, without those events having transpired, he never would've met me or had you for his son. He thanked me and made me promise to protect you! So, you see, as many times as Goku saved the Earth - even against your father - it was Vegeta who ultimately made the heroic sacrifice! I - I meant to tell you sooner but...after Gohan died, you haven't been the same and I was afraid... Trunks, I was afraid you would leave me the same way your father did! If you were to throw your life away, like he did, I'd be all alone! You're my boy, Trunks! You're all I have left! If I lost you, then I would have no reason to continue the struggle..."_

_Kara's fists trembled as she clenched them tightly. She missed her family so much! Nothing got to her more than a family being torn apart by catastrophe. It may have been too late for her parents, but she had seen Kal alive, grown, and healthy before foolishly running off on her own and getting caught up in this situation. She had to get back to him somehow._

_Trunks stood up with his back turned to his mother. "I wish you would've told me the truth sooner, Mom," he said as he hung his head. His hair defied gravity as static electricity arced in the heat warped atmosphere that had sprung up around him. It took several calming breaths before his hair settled back down. "But, you were right in waiting," he added. "Seventeen and Eighteen will pay for what they've done, but I will not settle for a sacrifice. I intend to have a true victory over them. I promise you that I will see this through to the end - an end in which the Earth is finally free and it's people can once again live normal lives."_

_Kara took the opportunity to speak up after that. "Your cause is noble. Forgive me for asking, though; what do you intend to do afterward? That is - what will become of the Earth after you defeat those people? The surface seems void of flora and your oceans are nearly dried up. It seems unlikely that life would return to such a harsh environment so easily. Those cyborgs...they were once human, right? Political reasons or not, why would they choose to destroy the environment that nurtured their growth and which they dwell in?"_

_Bulma released a heavy sigh before taking another sip of her coffee. "It wasn't them who poisoned Mother Nature," she said after setting her cup back down. "After our strongest fighters went down, the twins hijacked a news camera and broadcast their beaten corpses for all the world to see. It was sick, what they did, but it succeeded in causing widespread fear and panic. The government foolishly decided to enact their nuclear weapons protocol and began to launch continuous strikes at them every time they could pinpoint their location. The nuclear bombardment lasted for nearly six months and affected every corner of the globe. I don't think they even considered developing a contingency for the toxic fallout. They were so focused on eliminating the threat that they didn't even evacuate people from the cities because it would have tipped off the twins."_

_Kara's eyes went wide as disbelief spread across her face. "Y-Your government sacrificed it's own people just to get at two individuals!?" She tried but just couldn't wrap her mind around such an unforgivable act. What kind of creatures were these humans?_

_"It's horrific, I know," Bulma admitted, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "That's why I've been working tirelessly to undo this mess. I'm currently in the midst of constructing a machine that will allow a person to travel back in time and hopefully stop those events from ever occurring, but I'm still short of several vital components. I've had Trunks helping me collect the materials piece by piece for a while now, but the twins and the toxic atmosphere make it unsafe to spend extended amounts of time on the surface. He was supposed to be collecting the last round of parts for me when you broke up his scuffle with those two."_

_"Bad luck, I guess..." Trunks muttered with a shrug of his shoulders._

_"Anyway," Bulma continued, "that's pretty much where we're at right now. What about you? You claimed to have come here from another planet, but you were able to identify us as human and you seem to know a little bit about the Earth so I'm guessing you've visited before? Your race must be pretty strong if you were able to fight at my son's level. Thanks for helping him out, by the way. I owe you for that."_

_Kara nodded her head in acknowledgment of the older woman. "I was just following my instincts. To answer your earlier question, though; yes, I have been to Earth before. However, I only spent a few days on it - not really long enough to become truly acquainted with your culture. I wasn't exactly warmly welcomed either. There are many hostiles among your species; more, it seems, than you friendly types. As for my power...I'm not entirely sure as to it's extent. You see, I've only just developed most of it over the last several days..." Kara knew it was because of the yellow sun, but she didn't want to divulge everything to these people despite their apparent openness with her. Not yet at least._

_"You're telling me that you developed THAT much power in just a matter of days!?" Trunks asked, incredulously. "It took me YEARS to get to my current level. Holy shit..."_

_Bulma had picked up on the obvious omission, Kara noticed, but decided not to interrupt. Kara continued. "Krypton was destroyed in a cataclysm many years ago. My father and uncle were scientists of the highest caliber and they chose to evacuate my cousin and I to Earth while they stayed behind to continue their efforts to save the planet. If they succeeded, I imagine we were supposed to have been sent for afterward._

_"When I landed on Earth, I met my fully grown cousin and learned that I had been stuck in suspended animation aboard my escape pod. He had been an infant when I last saw him which, from my perspective, had been just days earlier. Imagine waking up from a bad dream only to discover your life has become the nightmare... actually, I suppose you guys can relate. My parents, friends, and everyone I ever knew was dead... and had been so for years while I remained ignorantly asleep. My cousin tried to tell me the truth, but I didn't believe him; my memory of events leading up to the launch are still fuzzy, in fact._

_"Bottom line is, I had to find out for myself what happened. So I followed the beacon my father had left for me inside of my pod. It led me to a portal just outside of this solar system which transported me to the still intact ruins of my hometown. When Krypton broke apart, my father had managed to preserve Argo City inside of an experimental shield. The blast propelled the dislocated city into the orbit of a nearby blue star before the shield failed. When I got there, it had already been a graveyard for years. I was able to use the equipment in his lab to play back a recording he had left for me. His words left me with no choice but to accept the truth that my cousin had tried to convince me of..." Kara paused as she recalled the end of the recording. "The message he had left for me ended with someone breaking into his lab and shooting him," she said, in a trembling voice, as she clutched the ends of her cape within her fists. "Someone in Argo City murdered him..."_

_Bulma and her son looked upon the girl with concern. She had had her eyelids clenched shut right before she described her father's death. Now open, they saw her formerly brilliant blue irises had been replaced with a menacing red that glowed with a barely restrained energy. Bulma set her cup of coffee down and vacated her seat._

_Kara was caught off guard when the older woman enveloped her in a hug and held the back of her head with one hand while rubbing her back with the other. "Hey...everything's gonna be okay, you hear?" the woman said into her ear. Her tone was soothing in a motherly kind of way. The heat that had collected behind her eyes slowly faded away as she cried into Bulma's shoulder. Kara let herself stay like that for several minutes while the woman reminded her of the healing power a mother's embrace had. When her ragged breathing finally calmed, Trunks' mother took a step back to look at her. "Listen, Kara...you don't have to tell us everything right now just because we shared so much with you. I understand if it's difficult for you. We've had years to cope with our situation...but yours is still raw. As far as I'm concerned, you earned my trust the moment you helped my boy fight off those two monsters. We'll help you however we can, I promise you that."_

_"You're damn right we will," Trunks said as he stood beside his mother. The determined expression on his face left no room for argument. He extended a hand toward the last daughter of Krypton. "Allow us to make up for the lack of warm welcome you experienced on your first visit to our planet. Welcome to Earth," he said with a warm smile.)_

Since then she had shared, with Bulma, her theory of possibly having been displaced in time by the portal on Argo City's side. The older woman had agreed and assured her that her machine would be able to detect the particles associated with time travel, once it was completed, and had promised to run a scan on her after it was. Thus, Kara found herself recruited into the hunt for Bulma's special list of parts.

Few words were exchanged between she and Trunks as they carved a path through the gloomy sky toward their first stop. They were too focused on keeping their eyes open for any sign of activity from the twins. As her eyes continuously darted across points on the horizon, she still marveled at how thoroughly the humans had ruined their own planet. There wasn't a single spec of greenery in any direction. The, once massive, bodies of water that used to cover two thirds of the globe were reduced to a mere scattering of puddles. Trunks had said that he had encountered other survivors before, but that had been years ago; back when he and Gohan fought as a team to defend the small human settlements from the twins' destructive games. After his master died, his mother had forbid him from actively seeking out the two non-humans in favor of helping her finish constructing her machine. Kara spared a glance at the teenage boy flying beside her. His face was a mask of chiseled determination.

"There," Trunks said as he pointed a finger at the crumbling city ahead of them.

Orange Star City. The techno-industrial capital and formerly most populated human settlement on the planet was now nothing more than a piece of art painted over a ghostly mountainous background. The picture was of a moment in time; a glimpse of history hinting at it's fall from glory. Rotting spires of it's skyline were, like it's dead citizens had surely done, reaching upward to grasp for a helping hand and falling tragically short. Kara focused in that direction, unconsciously employing her telescopic vision, and zoomed in on the cluster of buildings until she spotted the weathered Capsule Corporation sign hanging loosely from the side of one of the most intact looking structures left.

The two teenagers slowed their descent before they carefully navigated the air between the decrepit skyscrapers and finally touched down on the debris littered pavement just outside of Capsule's former headquarters. The domed tower was separated from the street by a courtyard with dead flower beds and dried up fountains surrounding the stylized sculpture of a giant capsule. As they approached the building, they had to leap over a wrecked bus that looked to have been driven off of the road, judging by the tire tracks, before being granted entrance through the shattered glass doors. The inside of the establishment was in no better shape. Exposed to the elements for years, the tiled floors had moldy grout and the chic lobby furniture had been blown about by stormy winds until breaking point.

Trunks had to pat Kara on the shoulder to break her out of her trance as she surveyed the broken skylight above the atrium. "Come on, it's this way," he said, indicating a darkened corridor with a hand gesture. The blonde followed him as he led them into the darkness. The lack of light was remedied when he summoned a small orb of glowing Ki into the palm of his left hand. Capsule shaped lighting fixtures hung from the arched ceiling of the spacious hallway and the long windows of abandoned offices ran the length their path until they came to an intersection. Trunks paused so he could remove a thin plastic case from his jacket pocket and flipped it open to reveal rows of capsules within. His Ki ball remained floating there as he took that hand away to pull out the first capsule and pop it open. He offered his companion one of the two scouters that had been stored within.

Kara accepted the gadget without question before affixing it to her head. She was well aware of the plan. Bulma would monitor them from her end, after they split up, and all three would be in constant communication in case they ran into trouble or found something important.

**_"Finally online, I see,"_** Bulma's voice said into their ears. **_"Good."_** There was a pause. **_"Okay, I've got your locations pinpointed and I'm forwarding you map data for the Capsule tower. It should be coming up on your oculars right...about...now."_** The two teens' faces became awash with the greenish glow emanating from the lenses covering both of their right eyes. In their line of sight, a bird's eye view of the ground floor layout appeared with two glowing blue dots right next to each other. "**_Those two blips are you guys, by the way."_**

"Yes, Mom, I know that," Trunks said, rolling his eyes.

**_"I know _you_ know, dear,"_** Bulma said emphatically. **_"I'm just making sure Kara is up to speed. I mean, for all we know, they never had blips on Krypton so-"_**

"We had blips," Kara said, cutting the woman off.

"They had blips, Mom. There you go," Trunks added. "Can we move on?"

**_"Right...okay then, you two. The main elevator shaft is right around the corner from you. It should give you access to all fifty-two floors, as well as the twelve sub levels. It doesn't really matter which of you goes up or down so I'll leave you to decide amongst yourselves who does what."_**

Trunks made eye contact with Kara before grinning slightly. "Remember that thing I showed you the other day?" Upon receiving her nod, he continued. "Right now is the perfect time to use it. Ready?"

"Rock, paper, scissors - shoot!" the two teens announced in unison as they bobbed their fists in front of each other. Two papers. They went again and Kara came back with a scissor crushing rock.

"Damn, how did you get so lucky?" Trunks muttered.

"There's only skill here, actually," Kara replied, confidently. "You're the one that needs luck. Have fun going through all fifty-two of those floors, by the way. I think I might have time for a nap while I wait for you to finish."

"Hah! We'll see who's faster," Trunks said before popping into Super Saiyan. "Fifty-two floors is nothing compared against _my_ speed."

**_"Calm down, children,"_** Bulma interrupted. **_"The building isn't as sturdy as it used to be, so you'd better not overdo it. Contact me as soon as you find something. Bulma out."_**

With a sigh, Trunks let go of his transformation before speaking. "She's right. I guess this round goes to you, Kara. Though, I bet I'll find more parts than you do since I have more floors to go through."

"You just might," Kara said, offhandedly, as she walked around the corner and into the adjacent corridor. The stainless steel elevator doors were still somewhat shiny underneath all of the dust and grime that had built up over the years. She reached her fingers into the seam and effortlessly pried the two doors open before glancing over her shoulder to see Trunks doing the same to the opposite set of doors behind her.

The boy wasted no time in propelling himself upward and disappearing while Kara took the time to peer down into the seeming abyss before levitating herself over the ledge. As she descended, her vision auto adjusted for the dark and everything she saw became tinted red. She clicked a button on the scouter and brought up the list of materials with a visual description for each. Kara scrolled through the list, memorizing each item, before switching back to the map. She hovered stationary at the first sub level as she focused on her eyes and activated her X-Ray vision. Then, twirling slowly around, she ran a visual sweep of all the offices, storage closets, and labs. Finding nothing, she dropped to the next level and repeated her procedure. She ended up going through eleven of the twelve levels before spotting anything of interest.

After bypassing the twelfth level elevator doors, Kara walked directly to the warehouse at the furthest end of the basement. "Bulma, I found something," she said as she entered the warehouse and navigated around the stacks of wooden crates.

**_"What is it?"_**

Kara reached the end of the warehouse and placed her flattened palms against the smooth wall. "There's a corridor beyond this wall. It's not on the map. Do you know about it?"

**_"That's impossible..."_** Bulma trailed off before pausing. _**"I oversaw the renovations myself. There shouldn't be anything else connected to the sub levels..."**_

"Okay, then. I'm going in," Kara said before backpedalling far enough to get a wider view of the obstruction. She squinted her eyes and used tightly focused eye beams to cut a door sized hole for her to pass through.

**_"I don't know what's beyond here, so I won't be able to help you. Stay on your toes."_**

"I got this," Kara replied as she passed through the newly created entrance. As soon as she did, she noticed how stale the air tasted. This passage had no doubt been sealed off for many years. Another thing she noticed was how large the corridor was. It was as wide as some of the roads she had seen on the surface and about as tall as a house. She tried to employ her telescopic vision to see how far it went, but discovered a limit to her enhanced senses; she had been using combined vision enhancements repeatedly and the fatigue had dramatically reduced her range. Without sunlight to recharge her batteries, she was going to have to find out the old fashioned way. Kara took to the air and propelled herself down the path at a careful pace.

The map on her ocular had gone blank the moment she passed the threshold, but it was still measuring the distance she traveled as she flew deeper into the tunnel. One mile passed quickly and turned into ten, then twenty. After fifty, she arrived at a giant roll down door. Instead of wasting energy cutting a hole, she opted to lift the door into it's rolled up position; breaking the locks in the process. What she saw left her astonished.

Dusty old Red Ribbon banners hung from the walls of the brick and mortar bunker. The stadium sized chamber reached several stories high with suspended metal catwalks connecting a dozen or so smaller corridors near the top. On the floor were rows of tanks, humvees, and mobile artillery that were haphazardly covered with dingy tarps.

Kara X-Rayed the walls surrounding her and saw that many of the smaller tunnels led to barracks or offices. However, there was one that led to a lab with a server room attached. She immediately recognized some of the items she was looking for inside of it. "Well, Bulma, I have good news and bad news for you," she said as she elevated herself toward one of the catwalks. "The good is that you can cross off a few things from that list," she added as she halted outside the door of the lab. "The bad..." she continued as she pushed the door open "...is where I found them."

No sooner than she had finished that statement, the derelict facility suddenly lit up with power as an automated recording was broadcast from speakers hidden throughout the bunker. **_/-/Lab breach detected. Security protocol Delta has been enacted. Squads are authorized to use deadly force/-/_**. Kara whirled around and spotted dozens of identical human-sized robots rushing into the corridor from both ends. They had bony limbs connected by round joints and oval shaped skeletal heads with glowing red eyes.

The teenager cursed inside her own head as the automatons sprinted toward her with claw like hands transforming into blaster tips glowing with red energy. She had to hurry and capsulize the things Bulma needed before the ensuing conflict wrecked everything. In a burst of super speed, Kara pulled out a small capsule case from her belt and ransacked the lab before the first robot made it through the door. Then she blasted the lead robot with her eye beams, ripping into the cluster of it's comrades behind it as well, before she exited back into the corridor. More came and they started blasting but, against her indestructible Kryptonian attire, she barely felt it. Even the ones that got her skin felt as weak as insect bites. She walked casually back toward the main chamber, slapping the flimsy robots into pieces as she did so. More fell against her overwhelming strength as they proved to be nothing more than a nuisance that barely slowed her from reaching the catwalk. By the time the toe tips of her boots touched the ground floor, there were none left standing. However, before her heels made contact with the concrete surface, she was knocked forward by a punch to the back of her head.

**_/-/Security protocol Charlie activated. Sergeant Fifteen in effect/-/._**

Kara straightened herself back up as she identified her newest assailant. The purple skinned man of short stature was clad in baggy camouflage pants tucked into black boots, forest green tank top, and had a backwards facing camo hat resting atop his head. The glare of the overhead lights reflected off of his aviator sunglasses as he folded his arms over his chest and spoke to her in a deep, threatening, voice. "You will stop resisting."

"It speaks," Kara said to him, mockingly, as she identified his status as an android with little more than the blink of an X-Ray scan. "But not for much longer," she added as she launched herself at the artificial man with a fist cocked back.

Fifteen managed to catch her left fist in his right palm before his face was thrust to the side by her right hook. One of his artificial teeth flew out of his mouth as a result.

**_/-/Threat assessment updated. Security protocol Beta activated. Lieutenant Fourteen in effect/-/._**

"Your presence here is unauthorized," the second newcomer said as he descended from an opening in the ceiling. Like his comrade, he wore camo pants tucked into black boots but that's where the similarities ended. He was very tall, had pasty grey skin, brown eyes, and long black hair tied into a thick braid which hung over his left shoulder. He was also shirtless and heavily muscled. "Die!" he cried as he rushed in to engage her.

Kara avoided his uppercut by tilting her head away from his fist but caught his knee in her chest right afterward and was sent flying into the ceiling. She had gained control in time to stop herself from penetrating the roof, though. A cave-in would be bad. She let her outstretched arms fall back down to her sides as her eyes lit up with red. "You first," she replied before blasting him with a full powered beam. His grey skin bubbled as the heat sizzled his chest. She grinned as he reached a hand up to nurse the wound.

**_/-/Threat assessment updated. Security protocol Alpha activated. Captain Thirteen in effect/-/._**

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" said a voice with a distinctive drawl.

Kara turned around to watch as a man rose up from a hole in the floor. His skin was the same shade as her own. He wore black cargo pants tucked into combat boots and a brown utility vest over a bare chest. His shoulder length silver hair was tied into a loose ponytail behind his head. "How many of you are gonna show up before you realize you can't stop me?" she asked.

"No more will be needed, I can assure you that," Thirteen said with a confident smirk.

Before Kara could reply, both of her arms were grabbed by Fourteen and Fifteen, who held her in place long enough to catch Thirteen's fist in her stomach. Spit flew from her mouth as she was doubled over. Her wide eyes narrowed in anger as she fought to regain her breath. "That was...cheap," she growled out.

"I never was one to ignore a bargain," Thirteen replied dryly. He hammered her abdomen with a few more heavy fists before breaking out into laughter. "This is great! I been asleep for far too long. I owe ya one for wakin' me up. If it weren't for my programmin', I'd probably be offering to buy ya a drink right about now!"

Kara winced as the Captain reveled in the pain he was causing her. _'Must get into the sunlight,'_ she thought. "Bulma... Trunks," she coughed out. She wondered why nobody had come to her aid yet.

"Aw... poor blondie missing her friends?" Thirteen asked. "A jammin' signal went up when ya tripped the defenses of this base. All wireless transmissions are blocked until we dispose o' ya. Just thought ya should know, ah-hahahahahahhh!"

Having caught her breath while Thirteen was talking, she quickly pulled both of her legs tucked up against her body - knees to her chest - before uncoiling into a double booted kick that sent the gloating android flying away. He crashed into the far wall at about the same time she closed her arms to smash Fourteen and Fifteen's heads together. She then rolled her body in the air and launched herself back into the fifty mile long tunnel at her best speed. "Bulma or Trunks, can you hear me!? I need help!" she yelled into the scouter as she approached the hole she had cut into the wall of Capsule tower's twelfth sub level warehouse.

**_"Yo, where have you been?"_** came the voice of Trunks. **_"We've been trying to get ahold of you for the past ten minutes. Are you okay?"_**

"Praise Rao," Kara said as relief flooded her voice. "Get ready for a party. I'm bringing guests with me," she added as she blew through the warehouse and back toward the elevator shaft. She heard the crash of the androids below her as she rocketed up to the ground floor and out into the lobby. "Trunks, where are you?"

**_"He's packing up the last of what we need,"_** Bulma said.**_ "Hurry up and meet her outside, would you?"_**

**_"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Almost done,"_** Trunks replied over the comm.

Kara's brow furrowed with effort as she flipped over the crashed bus at the tower's doorstep and bounded straight up into self propelled flight. "I'm literally sweating here, guys. Waiting on you, Trunks," she said seriously as she pushed herself passed the skyline and made a break for the black clouds. She looked over her shoulder to check the gap between her and her pursuers. Fourteen and Fifteen were halted near the peak of Capsule tower, but she didn't see-

Thirteen sent her on a horizontal trajectory with a powerful backhand as he blocked her path to the clouds. "Where do ya think yer goin', honey?" he said with a smirk. "We ain't done with ya yet, hahaha. Not by a long shot."

Kara recovered from the aerial spin just in time to avoid crashing into the roof of a squared skyscraper. She wiped her mouth and came away with blood on her hand. Not good. She was expending energy much faster than she had anticipated and the small amount of solar radiation that penetrated the thick cloud layer wasn't enough to recharge her. _'Come on, Trunks...'_

Thirteen opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a white Ki blast exploding against his vest. It had come from a window in the top floor of Capsule tower. "What the hell was that?"

"...aaaaAAAAAHHHH!" The echoing war cry accompanied the explosion of the domed roof as Trunks called upon his Super Saiyan transformation. Golden light washed over Kara and the three androids as the son of Vegeta levitated out of the wreckage with his right hand gripping the hilt of his sword. "Who are you guys and what do you want with my friend?"

"_We_..." Thirteen started, "are Doctor Gero's elite android guard. Yer girlfriend was kind enough to wake us up so we could have some fun. Yer welcome to join us, though. My two subordinates need a punchin' bag of their own after all." Fifteen cracked his knuckles while Fourteen rolled his head side to side to pop his neck. "He's all yers, fellas. I got the cheerleader."

Before the Lieutenant and Sergeant got within arms reach, Trunks had withdrawn his blade from its sheath while unleashing a Ki wave with his left hand that sent the two androids crashing into different buildings. He then launched himself at Thirteen and came down on him with a heavy two-handed vertical slash that the man narrowly avoided. Trunks had managed to slice a few strands of his silver hair off as he leaned his upper body to the side. The Super Saiyan followed through with the swing, to continue his momentum, and flipped himself over before coming back with a diagonal slash, a spinning horizontal slice, and ending in an energy-tipped blade thrust that pierced through his enemy's brown vest, leaving a long gash on the side of his abdomen, before the energized tip exploded into a wave that sent the Captain hurdling miles away.

Kara whistled in appreciation as she floated over to Trunks' side. "Wow... even _I_ can't see where he's gonna land," she said.

"These ones aren't as strong as Seventeen and Eighteen," Trunks said, re-sheathing his blade. "Are you sure you're okay? I thought you were stronger than this."

"About that... I didn't mention it before but... my powers are derived from the sun. These passed two weeks I've been with you have been spent mostly in that cave or under cloud cover from the fallout. I didn't realize until today how diminished my abilities have become, though," Kara admitted.

"So, all you need is a little sunshine to make you big and strong? Like a _plant_?" Trunks asked as a humorous smile broke out on his face. "Do I need to water you too?" he added as laughter overcame him. "Ouch! Not cool..." he said, rubbing the spot where she had punched his shoulder. "Can't take a joke..." he muttered.

"I _can_ take a joke, for your information," Kara said adamantly. "Yours are just so lame that I can't stand to listen. But seriously, I need to get above these clouds like five minutes ago. Will you finish off the other two while I go bask?"

"Not a problem, _Miss Sunshine_. Leave 'em to me," he replied, giving her a confident thumbs up.

Kara rolled her eyes, shaking her head, as she ascended the final distance to her solar bath. She spread her arms wide as the tingling warmth of the sun washed over her body and tickled her skin. The cut on her lip vanished and her fatigue evaporated under the yellow star's heat. She closed her eyes as calm relief came over her and counted the seconds as her body metabolized the nourishing radiation. Below her, she could hear Trunks enjoying the unique situation of having the advantage over the androids. She twirled around and focused her vision below the blanket of clouds to watch Trunks play around.

The young Super Saiyan had an ear to ear grin plastered onto his face as he effortlessly parried, blocked, and dodged the combined onslaught of Fourteen and Fifteen. He then decided to fold his arms over his chest and use only speedy upper body movement to evade their continuous flurry of punches. He let his left leg be in charge of halting any attempted kicks or knee strikes. Trunks could only enjoy their humiliation for so long before growing bored, however. His grin dropped until it disappeared entirely. His sudden change in attitude made the android duo flinch in response. "It's time you pieces of junk went to the scrap heap," he said as he caught their fists in each of his palms. His hands began to glow hotly as he refused to let go of the struggling Red Ribbon soldiers. "Sayonara," he said before he unleashed twin blasts that blew them each into pieces. He dusted his hands off before adding, "Maybe they can be recycled into something useful; like a toaster oven."

"Recyclin' sounds like a great idea, but I think I got a better use in mind," Thirteen said as he dropped out from the black clouds. He was burnt all over and his clothes were in tatters but he was still in one piece. "Come to daddy!" he yelled, with a wild look in his eyes, as several small pieces of his comrade's remains rushed toward him like a magnet. Microchips, silicon boards, transistors, and power cells were absorbed through his skin as he laughed out loud.

_'This doesn't look good,'_ Kara thought as she watched the crazed android shake with laughter. The damage he had taken was disappearing rapidly while his muscles bulged to grotesque size. _'Whatever he's trying needs to be stopped,' _she decided before leaving her sunbath, earlier than intended, in favor of dropping a devastatingly powerful axe kick to the top of Thirteen's head. The concussive force of her boot against his skull sent out a shockwave of wind that leveled a few of the weaker standing buildings around downtown Orange Star and also created a significant parting of the clouds above her. He remained, shockingly, unmoved however.

"Tut-tut, little lady," Thirteen tsked as he glanced back at her. "Hasn't anyone ever told ya it's impolite to interrupt someone else's turn?" He then caught Trunks' blade between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand; effortlessly halting his swing. "HAAAAAaaaahhh!" he shouted as the blast of energy from his completed transformation knocked both of them away from him. His, now orange, hair stood on end as synthetic muscles rippled under his new blue skin.

Trunks shook a small chunk of concrete off of his blonde head as he pulled himself out of the wall he had become embedded into on the side of a tall building. "Ugh... what just happened?"

"AH-HAHAHAHAHAAAA!" The thunderous laughter of the transformed Thirteen echoed across town.

Miles away, near the edge of the city, Kara lifted a slab of fallen steel off of herself and tossed it aside before looking back up to the air above the city. Her eyes went wide when she spotted not just Thirteen, but also Seventeen and Eighteen as they approached him. The twins must've been drawn in to investigate after all the racket that had been going on with energy beams and explosions having disrupted the atmosphere for miles. She focused her hearing until she tuned in to their conversation.

"Well, if it ain't the two _deserters_ who betrayed our maker. Come to play?" Thirteen asked in a monstrously deep voice.

"Ex_cuse_ you," Eighteen said, in an offended tone. "I don't seem to recall ever having had the displeasure of meeting your disgusting mug. Are we supposed to know who you are or something? You recognize this clown, Seventeen?"

"Really, Sis?" he replied with an incredulous expression. "I never hung out with muscle headed freak shows like this idiot. You know me better than that."

"There you have it, then," Eighteen said, laying the matter to rest, as she addressed Thirteen once again. "So, are _you_ the one who's been wrecking _our_ property?"

"Hahaha, I never expected ya fools to recognize me," Thirteen said as he leveled an index finger at them. "Besides, I have since transcended my previous form so, even if ya had known me before, ya wouldn't realize it with the way I am now."

"He didn't answer the question, Sis," Seventeen pointed out. "What do you think we should do about this uncooperative freak?"

"Well, I think the responsibilities of ruling a planet should involve putting dissenters in their place," Eighteen said as she unfolded her arms. "Don't you agree?"

"Naturally," Seventeen replied as he removed his hands from his pants pockets and began to crack his knuckles. He shared a silent glance with his sister before they both went on the offensive.

"Not so fast, children," Thirteen said as he caught both of them by clamping his massive mitts over their faces before squeezing their skulls just hard enough to make them squirm. "There's a new sheriff in town."

Kara's jaw hung open in shock as she watched Thirteen toss the twins around like rag dolls while laughing like a mad man. She realized her throat had gone dry when she tried to swallow the lump of tightness that had collected around it. Her eyes shifted and found Trunks frozen into a similar state of disbelief. If this newcomer was making playthings out of their former terrorizers, so casually, what was he going to do to she and Trunks when he got through with them?

xxxxxvvvvvvvxxxxx

Find out next time on... Dragon's Ball Sackz! Cue the theme song! "Cha-la... Head-cha-la..."

**ANSWERS TO BOTH ASKED _AND_ UNASKED QUESTIONS RIGHT HERE:**

Q: Is Kara going to travel to the DBZ past timeline with Trunks?

A: I would love for that happen! If I can come up with a legitimate reason for it, then you can bet I'll make it so.

Q: Will Trunks accompany Kara back to her native universe?

A: All I can say is that Kara's return to the DC universe is a long way off and a lot can happen between her (potential) visit to the DBZ past and eventual return home.

Thank you to _Ulquiorra Shiffer 007_ for posing those very important questions. Now, here are some you might be asking after reading this chapter.

Q: Why such a melodramatic flashback?

A: I felt that it was important to demonstrate that to counterbalance the sometimes out-of-place or exaggerated humor I have and will continue to write into character dialogue.

Q: The universal translating scouter idea was a stroke of genius. How do you come up with these amazing original ideas?

A: I make sure to eat all of my vegetables and keep my mind sharp while conveniently forgetting where I saw these things pop up first.

Q: Why is Kara too... (Weak, strong, trusting, distrusting, slow/quick witted, etc)?

A: Whoa, whoa, calm down DC fans. This is my first time writing any DC character in or out of their home setting AND I've only read up to issue 7 of her comic. The only DC I've read more of is Batman and he's not in this story...yet. (Maybe)

Q: Why did you choose to depict certain aspects of DBZ history/characters differently?

A: If you remember the author's note before Chapter One, I mentioned that I had always wanted to see either Kara or Kal travel to a VERSION of the DBZ realm. This is exactly that. I never claimed this to be a canon interpretation of DBZ. Hence my choice to take certain liberties with character names, histories, choice of attire, story setting, etc.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter as of this posting.

_Screaming Dean_

_Sicof this_

_Lord Sigfry_

_TD Master_

_itheone_

_Ulquiorra Shiffer 007_

_Sir Thames_

_Guest 1 and Guest 2_, I didn't forget about you either.

It's thanks to all of you that I cranked out Chapter Two so fast. See you next time.


	3. Enemy Of My Enemy

**Author's note at end of chapter**

**Disclaimer: **All characters/settings/trademarks referenced from Dragonball/Z/GT and DC entertainment are the respective properties of their original creators.

**_"The Sun And The Moon"_**

**Chapter Three: Enemy Of My Enemy**

Seventeen saw glass, then tile, steel, concrete, drywall, wood, and brick as he flew, face first, through building after building as a result of Thirteen's overwhelming brutality. And then he saw stars. The thirty-four year old teenager shook his head and spit out a tooth as he pushed himself up, with shaky arms, from the bathroom floor of the abandoned apartment he had crashed into. The smell of mold assaulted his nose as he caught glimpse of the mossy fungus growing over the edge of the bath tub from his peripherals. Directly below him, blood from his mouth pooled on the grimy linoleum floor. He still had the ability to bleed? He hadn't seen his own blood in twenty years. This couldn't be real.

The howling wind carried the distant sound of Thirteen's menacing laughter through the well ventilated rooms of the Swiss-cheesed apartment. Not long afterward, distinctly feminine screams of agony and terror arrived with another gust of wind. Seventeen scowled, gritting his teeth and pushing himself back onto his feet, upon recognizing the unmistakable cries of his sister. He shook off the wave of dizziness that momentarily crashed over him before stepping onto the air and floating himself back out of the giant hole in the wall. Following his ears, he turned his head up and to the left to see Eighteen hanging, stretched out, in front of Thirteen while the latter gripped her by one ankle and one wrist. The blue beast was trying to pull her limbs off with his bare hands.

The cyborg numbered Seventeen clenched his fists, digging finger nails into palms, before blasting into sonic flight. "That's enough!" he shouted as he rammed himself, like a missile, into the large android's abdomen. That seemed to do the trick as his sister was freed from the death grip while he continued to push against the solidly built android with all of his might. With his right shoulder dug into Thirteen's gut, and the attached arm wrapped halfway around him, Seventeen used the fist of his left arm to hammer a flurry of punches against every piece of blue skin he could reach. Unfortunately, his assault only lasted a few seconds before a large hand gripped his neck from behind and pulled him away. Thirteen, now in control, delivered a fierce knee into Seventeen's solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs as it lifted him up, then followed up with a lighting one-two punch combo to his rib cage before making his head snap back with a seismic uppercut.

Seventeen's vision swam as he felt himself launched skyward. He could hear the sharp wind of the upper atmosphere cutting passed his ears, feel the stinging mist of irradiated clouds, and smell the acrid sulfur in the air. When his eyesight came back into focus, he found himself at the very edge of Earth's breathable environment. He had never bothered to fly this high before and, thus, was awed by the immense curvature of the planet laid out before him. The moment ended just as soon as it had started, however, when gravity called him back. Still reeling from that bone-jarring punch, he struggled to right himself but eventually managed to gain control of his flight in time to avoid a painful landing.

The formerly human brunette man gritted his teeth as he came back within attack range just as his sister was being knocked away, into a horizontal trajectory, by a severe back-handed slap to her face. Deep scowl lines marred his youthful features as he screamed with rage during his final approach. "You'll pay for that, you bastard!" he shouted as he thrust both palms forward to unleash a salvo of high speed energy blasts that detonated on impact. "HAAAAAAAHHH!" he continued to yell at maximum volume as his non-stop assault clouded the area surrounding his target. Despite the heavy damage he had taken, and the pain he was feeling because of it, his endurance persisted. Thanks to his special internal reactor, courtesy of Gero, he could theoretically expend full powered attack energy for several days without breaking a sweat. Then again, if the blue brute was to be believed, that meant the freak was powered by Gero technology as well and quite possibly had the same kind of endurance. Against a foe as powerful as that, with near unlimited energy, victory became an inconceivable notion. That was too scary a thought to dwell on, though, Seventeen decided before noticing that his sister had rejoined his side and followed suit with her own spray of colorless energy blasts. "How you holding up, Sis!?" he asked the blonde over the chorus of continuous explosions.

"How do you _think_!?" she yelled her reply as she held her right foot out to show him. Her black leggings were torn around the ankle, where the blue monster had gripped when he had tried to remove the limb, and her boot was missing. More importantly, she was bleeding from a gash where her skin had ripped open and electrical sparks were surging around the wound. "Do you know how hard it's gonna be to find another matching pair in this apocalyptic nightmare!?" she said about her boots, in a tone that was meant to be a parody of her usual self, in order to make light of their dire situation.

Seventeen briefly sniggered at his sister's antics, but remained grim nonetheless. He opened his mouth to say something else but cut himself off when he noticed the rampaging android stomp out of the cloud of smoke with his arms crossed in front of him to block against the energy they were still in the process of unleashing. What's more; the hulking madman was completely unscathed. Seventeen had already been going at full tilt and, likely, Eighteen had been as well, so he had no more in reserve that would have allowed him to up the intensity of his assault to help repel the doom that was steadily marching toward them.

A few miles away, Kara and Trunks were still locked in an argument over what to do after having met up under the cover of an abandoned cafe situated on the corner of a major intersection. They had long since re-capsulized their scouters. Knocked over round iron tables and matching chairs lay strewn across the floor of the establishment which was covered in a bed of shattered glass. The "L" shaped coffee bar had a chunk ripped out of its splintering wood as well.

"...and _I'm_ telling _you_ that it'd be _stupid_ to take that chance!" Trunks said, adamantly, as he gestured toward the direction of the fighting with his left arm. "What if they just decide to attack _us_ as well!? _Huh_!? It'd be a free for all! Or, _worse_, they might just run away and leave us to deal with it ourselves! Anyway, I'd rather _die_ than fight alongside the monsters who _murdered_ the ones I cared about. You should know better than to ask me to do that!"

"Oh _yeah_!? Well, you may be fine dying without taking a _chance_, that might _help_ us by the way, but I don't believe in giving up! And, from the stories I've heard, neither did your _master_!" Kara said in rebuttal.

Trunks looked like he had been slapped in the face by Kara's words before he recovered his wits enough to manage a stubborn scowl. "_You_ don't get to bring Gohan into this," he replied in a dangerously low voice. "You're just an _outsider_ who knows _nothing_ about the reality of growing up in this _Hell_. If you want to throw your life away trying to save a couple of _heartless_ cyborgs, on the _slim possibility_ that they'll back you up, then go ahead and do it on your _own_! See if I care!" he shouted as he threw his hands up in the air.

Kara barely managed a calming breath as she leveled an intense, glowing red, glare at the lavender haired boy standing opposite her. "Alright... If _that's_ the way you want it, then _fine_. Since you're so against this, you'd best be on your way back to your mother with the parts we gathered," she said as she pulled the small capsule case from her belt and dropped it on the wooden bar beside her. "Think about this _one thing_, though. If Seventeen, Eighteen, and I all die in this fight, will you be able to protect your mother from Thirteen _all by yourself_? Because, at that point, there will be _no one_ left with enough strength to help you." The last daughter of Krypton walked herself passed the broken window frames of the cafe and onto the concrete sidewalk just outside before looking over her shoulder. "Goodbye, Trunks," she added before blasting into the air.

The son of Vegeta clenched his fists as he glared at the glassy floor beneath his shoes. "_Damn_ you, Kara..."

Eighteen was clenching her jaw as she and her brother desperately unloaded everything they had while slowly backpedalling to keep space between them and Thirteen's advance. The largely flat open area they were in used to be the city's most beautiful park; once widely recognized for being featured in many iconic movies. Before the conflict, it had still somewhat resembled its former self, despite the dead grass and barren trees. Now, however, the earth had been turned inside out and dried up flora fueled several small fires that had sprung up all around them. She glanced over her shoulder to see how much ground they had left before they would be forced to take to the air and saw Trunks' blonde friend flying in at a low altitude. She grimaced. If that girl was here, then Trunks was most likely not far behind. The last thing they needed right now was the distraction from those two. "Heads up, Bro," Eighteen said, gaining her brother's attention. "We're about to have new company," she continued as she inclined her head in Kara's direction.

"_Shit_," Seventeen replied as he spared a glance. "Can't catch a break today. Any ideas?"

"Yeah," Eighteen said before taking one hand away from their focused effort as she turned her body halfway. She used that hand to start blasting the red and blue clad girl as she drew near. When she noticed Seventeen about to do the same, she stopped him. "No, don't stop attacking him. This will only take me a second."

"You idiots!" Kara yelled as she dodged Eighteen's blasts with a combination of twists, turns, and barrel rolls. "I'm here to help!" she added before unleashing sustained eye beams at Thirteen, which significantly slowed his forward movement. The female cyborg dropped her hand as a genuinely surprised expression came over her face, giving Kara the time she needed to land between the two. "Big Blue over there is the greater threat, so you don't have to worry about me. It's gonna take all of us to bring him down, so we need to work together. No arguments."

With a mere glance, Eighteen had a silent conversation with her brother before coming to a joint decision. "See ya!" they chorused before she and her brother dropped their attack and rocketed into the sky at top speed.

Kara heard Seventeen's laughter with acute clarity before Thirteen leapt out of the smoke, undamaged, with a huge grin on his face. She tried to evade his grasp but he was too quick and able to wrap his right hand around her neck. The red beams, that her eyes had been projecting, flickered out as her windpipe was slowly crushed. He belly laughed as he held her out in front of him and rocked her body with one solid gut punch after another. She began to cough up blood after the third strike.

"That was hilariously _foolish_, little cheerleader," Thirteen said as his laughter subsided. "Did ya _actually_ believe that'd work?" he asked rhetorically. "If it's any consolation, I was just testin' my new abilities against those two traitors. So, even if ya _had_ teamed up, it woulda made no difference 'cause I'm still only warmin' up. Ya ain't seen _nothin_' yet, darlin'. But, don't ya worry, I ain't lettin' those cowards get away so easy," he added before kneeing her in the face. He laughed some more as she went limp into unconsciousness. "Oops, guess I got a little _too_ excited! Now, ya can just go ahead and nap right here while I go round up them troublemakers so we can all play together some more," he said before tossing her onto a pile of smoldering earth. "Be right back!" he added before blasting off.

Trunks arrived at the park, moments after Thirteen had departed, to find the bruised and bloody Kara laying prone on top of the smoky soil. His breath caught in his throat as he descended to his knees on the ground right beside her. "Kara..._no_..." he croaked out passed the lump squeezing his voice box. "I'm so sorry..." he whispered, voice tight with emotion, as his anguished expression deformed his face into a pitiful state. He fell onto his hands and leaned over her as his eyes began to sting with unshed tears. "I didn't mean it...you're not an outsider...I didn't mean it, I _swear._.." he continued as he struggled to control the trembling that had come over him. Not once did it cross his mind that his argument had been the right one or that she had ignored his warning. All he could think of was that he had sent her on her way while refusing to back her up from the beginning. Because of his failure, another person close to him had been lost. He leaned back on his haunches and let his arms drop to his sides as he gazed up toward the overcast sky. "Gohan...father..._everyone._..wherever you are, please lend me your strength and allow me to do whatever is necessary..." he said, following a deep breath. He clenched his fists and eyelids as tightly shut as they would go, for just a brief moment, before opening them up again to stare back down at his first, and only, Kryptonian friend. And then he saw it; the slow rise and fall of her chest. "Kara!" he exclaimed in astonishment as he leaned back over her. "Hang in there, okay? I've got you," he said as he scooped her up into his arms before levitating away from the scorched earth.

When Kara came back around into consciousness, she was met with the sight of her Saiyan friend staring down at her with guilt and relief layered into his otherwise melancholy visage. A gentle breeze blew his lavender bangs back and forth in front of his glistening eyes. Those crystalline pools of blue were locked onto her own as they conveyed his raw soul. They said to her;_ 'Never again. I'll never abandon anyone ever again, no matter what. Please believe me.'_ She stared long into his eyes, and the sunny horizon reflected on their surface, before suddenly becoming fully aware of herself once more and then realized that she was resting, bridal style, in Trunks' arms as they floated somewhere far above the clouds. An awkward heat quickly flushed her face before she squirmed a bit and began to float under her own power which caused the boy to gently release his grasp. When she noticed his face similarly tinged with the color of embarrassment, she gave him a tentative smile. "Thank you...for coming back," she said softly as she righted herself.

Trunks hung his head in shame. "I almost didn't," he admitted. "I'm _so sorry_, Kara. Will you ever forgive me?" he asked as he struggled to lift his head and once again lock eyes with her.

"But you _did_," Kara said, floating a bit closer to him. "And I knew that you would. You just needed the right push. So don't beat yourself up, _okay_? We're both still alive, which means we still have a chance to win. And..._anyway_...I should have thought of a better plan instead of rushing off like that so...it's on _both_ of us." She extended her right hand in an offering befitting of the human tradition. "I think the right phrase here would be...water under the bridge?"

Without hesitation and with the feeling of a great weight being lifted, Trunks accepted Kara's hand. "Yeah," he said with a real smile on his face as he shook her hand. "That's the one."

A crescendo of consecutive sonic booms resounding throughout the atmosphere brought the duo's attention back to the most pressing matter. The air itself vibrated with the force of blows being exchanged by the three combatants fighting below the widely spread cloud coverage. Kara, now mostly recovered, had no problem discerning the heated conflict taking place. The trio of human shaped weapons were extremely adept at shrugging off fatal damage, although it was painfully obvious that number Thirteen's capacity for such things exceeded that of the twins.

"You can see them, right?" Trunks asked Kara as her eyes focused on things he could only hear. "What's happening?"

"They used me as a decoy and tried to escape, but Thirteen wasn't having it. You can call me crazy but I'm almost _sure_ that he has more of a personal interest in them than us. They keep trying to get away, but he won't let them," Kara said as her eyes still followed their target.

"So...using you as a distraction failed, huh? I'll bet they wouldn't _dare_ refuse any help they could get now. Wait a second..." Trunks drawled as his realization dawned on him. "Kara...how good are you at controlling your energy?"

The Kryptonian raised an eyebrow, suspiciously, as she studied her companion's expression. "Uh...I'm good enough to get by, I suppose. But I never got trained to use these powers, so I really don't know. What are you getting at?"

Several minutes later, as Kara watched the Earth shrink from over her shoulder, she shook her head and thought; _'I shouldn't have asked. This plan is even worse than mine was.'_ As she turned her attention back to the path ahead of her, and squinted slightly, the sun slowly grew to encompass nearly her entire field of view. It was a strange sensation. The closer she got to the local star, the less she noticed the mild strain of holding her breath against the vacuum. Additionally, the few lingering aches and pains that she had brought with her were now long gone. It was as if she had never had a finger laid upon her. At this close of a distance, it was unmistakable; the solar radiation charged her much faster than she could expend it. She almost lost her breath as her heartbeat suddenly shot up to unimaginable speed as it thundered inside her chest. _'Rao help me...'_ she thought as she was doubled over by the overwhelming force. _'It's...so much...'_

The very next moment, Kara's head was thrown back as two untamed whips of red energy lanced viciously from her eyes and cut streaks across the blackness of space with a roaring light show. Power; it screamed angrily at her as it cursed the body that would dare try to imprison it. _'You think I'll bow to YOU!?'_ it howled in a voice that only she could hear. _'I am KING of this system!'_

Violent red electricity began to surge all around Kara as a luminous aura of the same color faded into visibility and rolled away from her like ripples in a weightless pond. Each minute felt like an eternity as every fiber of muscle in her body was tensed while she struggled with the urge to give in against the convulsions that threatened to shake her body and, probably, tear her apart from the inside out. The pain was so intense that it was all she could do to keep from screaming out and letting go of her breath._ 'Can't hold on...'_ she thought as she felt her grip slipping more and more with each passing moment. As wave after wave of hot agony slammed against her, a forgotten memory began to play across her mind's eye.

_(Kara was inside the study of her family's old home in Argo City going over her preliminary scores for the practice exams that she had enrolled in to prepare herself for the actual trials. The beautiful sparkle of Argo's nighttime cityscape, visible through the floor to ceiling windows that ran the length of the room, was completely lost on her as she scrolled through the data on the small handheld holo-pad while pacing restlessly across the smoothly polished stone floor. As expected, she had failed the combat and physical conditioning portions which brought down her overall grade to just below the requirement. During her most recent sparring session with her instructor, her father had told her that, despite the ancient traditions of their people, she was bred to be a scientist and thus would have little use for the ways of the warrior in her adult profession. She had initially thought that he was implying that over stressing about something that wasn't going to be a large part of the rest of her life was the thing that was holding her back from overcoming it. Had she misinterpreted his words? Maybe, being that academics came easy to her, she was supposed to shift all of her focus onto the physical aspect, for just as long as it took to pass, while not worrying about the intellectual side which she had already sharpened to a sufficient level. Which was it then? The frustration she was harboring soon boiled over and she flung the small device against the far wall with an audible grunt before realizing what she had done. The noise had been enough to escape into the next room and, within moments, Alura joined Kara in the study. Despite Kara having scooped up the evidence of her small outburst before her mother arrived, the sense that something was wrong was not lost on the perceptive woman._

_"What is it that has you so troubled, child?" Alura asked as she approached her daughter to place a gentle hand upon the side of her face and search her eyes for a clue._

_The younger woman cast her gaze downward as her mother regarded her with genuine concern. "Mother, I..." She paused, released a heavy sigh, and composed herself a little more. "I feel at a loss. I've failed my practice exams because of poor martial performance. I think I may have misinterpreted father's words of advice but I can't be sure. Should I forsake my academic studies in favor of immersing myself in the martial arts just so I can eliminate that area of weakness? Or am I just failing because I've been psyching myself out about it this whole time? The deadline is only getting closer and I don't know what to do..."_

_Alura pulled her daughter into, what she hoped was, a comforting embrace that lasted several minutes. After they separated, she held the teenager at arms length and attempted to enlighten her. "Kara, darling...wars aren't won with brute strength alone. Nor are they won purely on the merits of scheming. A balance of the two forces must be achieved in order to grasp success. And I fully believe that the only way of achieving that balance is to let yourself be open to the will of your heart. If you allow your heart to overrule the conflict, and bring about peace within, you will be surprised by the things you can accomplish. Have faith in yourself as I have faith in you, my daughter.")_

The precious memory of her mother's encouragement brought tears to Kara's eyes as the feeling of hope swelled within. She thought of Trunks and his mother as she clenched her jaw. They were doomed if she didn't come through with her part of the plan. With her will solidified, she stopped tensing so hard against the immense force just enough so that she was no longer paralyzed by it. She brought her hands up to her face and interrupted the raging energy by clasping them over her eyes. The pressure within her body instantly shot up several degrees, but she didn't allow herself to be overcome - not again. She still had something worth fighting for and would be damned before she let it end without having done everything within her power. '_Hang in there, Trunks,' _she thought as she slowly regained her bearings.

**_-Twenty minutes ago; Planet Earth-_**

Trunks watched as Kara became nothing more than a distant spec in the sky. When she was completely out of sight, he turned his gaze back down to the blanket of clouds below him. His three least favorite people of all time where still going at it - he could hear the shouts and feel the thunderous blows being exchanged. If he were to be honest with himself, the thought of jumping into the middle of that particular fray was quite frightening. However, he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing what needed to be done. With a sharp breath and tensing of his muscles, he called upon his latent Ki. A flourish of golden aura preceded his quick transformation into a Super Saiyan. _'Here goes nothing,'_ he thought before propelling himself downward to pierce through the shroud of darkness.

When the black mist of the clouds thinned out, near the bottom, Trunks caught sight of them fighting in the air just above an old highway, leading away from the city, that was clogged with abandoned cars. The twins were, admittedly, doing a decent job of dividing Thirteen's attention by staying on opposite flanks and blowing up the occasional automobile to use the cover of explosion to switch positions with each other and get a hit or two in as well. Though, it was blatantly obvious that their bait and switch tactics weren't actually gaining them any ground against their superior foe. In fact, it couldn't even be considered a stalemate because, after watching them execute another exchange, he saw Seventeen catch a glancing blow to the side of his face which sent him crashing into a tanker truck several hundred feet away that resulted in an excessively large explosion. When the blue beast temporarily focused his attention on Eighteen, Trunks decided to make his move.

The Super Saiyan flew in low, mere feet above the highest roofline of cars present on the motorway, and got to Seventeen while under the cover of smoke. With a firm grip on the back collar of the cyborg's tattered black shirt, he hauled the slightly dazed man away from the inferno and took cover behind a white cargo van that was a relatively safe distance away.

Seventeen grunted as he was deposited unkindly onto the coarse pavement by his unlikely savior. Before he could get a word out, however, the kid that he usually considered a source of entertainment beat him to it.

"Listen up, _asshole_," Trunks said, glaring at the other man while gripping the hilt of his sword with his right hand. "I got a surprise waiting for that overgrown freak and you're going to help me herd him up passed the clouds so we can get him as close to orbit as possible. It's pretty obvious that he's not going to leave you guys alone so, if you value your life, you had better suck it up and swallow your pride - just like _I've_ had to do."

Seventeen wore quite the amused smirk as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. "Hah! I can't believe it..." he drawled. "I never thought this day would come, but here I am about to agree with a guy who just admitted to sucking _and_ swallowing. Alright, Trunks, we'll do this. But don't think that it's going to change anything between us. When this is all over, we pick up right where we left off."

"Whatever you say, _douchebag_," Trunks replied. "Just make sure to get your sister on board. We'll probably only get _one_ shot at this," he added as he peeked his head around the edge of the van to glimpse Thirteen swinging the blonde cyborg around by her ankles in preparation for a power throw. "We had better get back out there and help her. It looks like she's about to go for a ride. And, head's up; be ready to guard your eyes."

"I _hate_ it when you do that stupid trick," Seventeen grumbled as he began to levitate off of the ground.

"The only _stupid_ thing is that you keep falling for it," Trunks replied before blasting into the air.

Seventeen was right behind the Super Saiyan as they rushed the spinning Thirteen. The orange haired android was, as they had come to expect, laughing out loud while his sister screamed. The lunatic must have noticed them, though, because he chose to hurl his sister into his chest the very next instant. The jarring impact sent both he and Eighteen flying into an off-axis spin on two different trajectories but still in the same general direction. A lot of the momentum had been wasted by the collision, however, so neither he or his sister got very far before they managed to right themselves. That was lucky for them because he saw Trunks lift his hands for the Solar Flare attack just in time to warn Eighteen. "Sis, look away!" he shouted as he sped in to provide her with cover.

"Solar Flare!" Trunks shouted as he hovered at an almost point blank distance from number Thirteen, having successfully gotten in close due to the distraction that the twins had provided. He laughed at his good fortune while the large man reacted by pawing at his eyes. Then, just as quickly, he choked on his own breath when said man dropped the act only to stare directly at him with a mocking smirk.

"Ahahahaha! You fool!" Thirteen bellowed with laughter. "Unlike those _inferior_ siblings, there ain't a _single_ piece of organic tissue floatin' around inside _my_ body. _Their_ eyes might get hurt by somethin' as _simple_ as really bright light, but not _mine_. Nice try, though," he added as he reached forward, with incredible speed, to grab the collar of Trunks' capsule jacket and yank down before kneeing him in the face once and then hammering the back of his head with a double-fisted haymaker.

The incredible force of the blow, coupled with the short distance to the ground, caused Trunks to create a sizable crater when he broke through the highway asphalt upon impact. Most of the cars that had previously littered that section of the road were either flung into the air in every other direction, several of which exploded, or fell into a pile on top of the Saiyan as they rolled down the inside of the newly opened hole. It had been all the teenager could do to not instantly black out when he felt the sharp crack of pain hit the base of his skull. He was left twitching involuntarily as he lay beneath a small stack of decaying vehicles, robbed of his Super Saiyan state.

"That idiot," Seventeen hissed through his teeth as he and his sister watched Trunks fall from their distant vantage point. "He didn't even tell me the second half of the plan before getting himself taken out like that."

Eighteen was still skeptical about the kid's so-called plan, which her brother had hastily explained to her in just a few short words only moments ago. "Don't tell me you're still considering going along with nothing but a vague concept to guide you. 'Get him above the clouds'?" she said, quoting her brother, with a fair amount of incredulity in her tone. "That isn't even a _percentage_ of a plan, let alone _half_ of one," she added, punctuating her opinion with a willful roll of her eyes.

"Well it's the only thing we haven't tried yet; so what do we have to lose? I mean, we could be dead soon no matter what we do. Might as well make a solid attempt at something else while we still have the chance," Seventeen replied with a shrug of his shoulders before angling his gaze skyward. "All we really have to do is fly upward as fast as we can. We already know that he's not gonna stop chasing us. So, what do you say?"

"_Fine_," Eighteen relented with a sigh of resignation.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Seventeen shouted as he blasted off without giving her a warning.

"That's not fair!" she yelled at him as she quickly gave chase. The blonde sliced through the air as she pushed herself to catch up, but her brother's lead wasn't shrinking fast enough. He pierced the cloud layer just seconds before she did.

Seventeen looked back over his shoulder as he exited the dark mist on his continued ascent. His mind was already working to generate an appropriate quip for when his sister arrived in second place. Any second now she would shoot out of the clouds, to accept her defeat, and then they would steer Thirteen, who no doubt would have noticed their departure, up towards orbit when he caught up to them. It really was about as simple as any plan could get. Leave it to the Saiyan brat to come up with something like that. As the seconds ticked away with no sign of her, however, he began to suspect something was wrong. He slowed to a halt and turned all the way around to face back toward the direction he had just come from. Just as his tension reached it's peak, he caught sight of her come flying out of the darkness faster than he had expected. It took him a moment to figure out that she wasn't in control of her own speed. Her posture was limp, he realized. He sprang into action immediately thereafter, shooting off into an intercept course in hope of catching her. His best just wasn't quick enough, however.

Android Thirteen speed flickered into Eighteen's path before Seventeen got anywhere near her. The look on his face as he caught hold of her was positively sadistic. With his left hand grasped around her neck from behind, he held her out in presentation for Seventeen to see. She was definitely unconscious, the cyborg noted. He didn't dare make a hostile move as he floated stationary. The android's toothy grin and insidious glare were more than warning enough that he wouldn't hesitate to end her life if he so much as flinched the wrong way. Seventeen's mind raced as he fervently wracked his brain for a workable solution._ 'Damn it, this is the one time I could've used the brat's help...'_

"As ya can see, I've decided ta take yer bait and join ya up here on this beautiful sunny day," Thirteen said as he gestured to the sky with his free hand. "I ain't stupid. I knew there musta been some sorta plan in place as soon as I seen the kid an ya come out together with guns blazin'. However, before we continue this here game, I feel it's only fair for me ta edit the roster n give one of our hard workin' players a _break_."

_**!SNAP!**_

"Nooooooooooo!" Seventeen howled, with blood curdling intensity, as he reached out toward his expired sister. "Lazuli..." he said in a voice trembling with anger, despair and, most of all, regret.

Eighteen/Lazuli's neck had been broken with a simple flick of Thirteen's wrist. "Hahaha, music ta my ears!" he said with a twisted satisfaction. "Her goose ain't fully cooked yet, though. This bird still has one golden egg left ta give," he added before continuing. "It should be right about... _here_!" he said before thrusting his hand into her lower abdomen and ripping out a glass-like cylinder with wires coming from both of it's metallic end caps. "A thing o' beauty; this here power core. I wonder what I'll be able ta do with somethin' like this..." he trailed off cryptically while rolling it around in his hand.

Seventeen was beyond livid at this point. His knuckles popped as he squeezed his fists and drew blood from his palms. His lips curled back to bear teeth as he clenched his jaw and shook with a budding rage. "You put her down..._RIGHT NOW!_"

"No problem," Thirteen replied before letting go of her blood stained corpse as he casually tossed her to the side.

Seventeen's eyes went wide as he watched Lazuli fall back to earth in seemingly slow motion. Her wind swept hair brushed against her face which was frozen into a pained and sorrowful expression; one which so obviously conveyed the sense that she had not made peace with the reality of her own mortality. He called out her name once more as his vision grew blurry with tears but, for some unknown reason, he couldn't hear his own voice as he said it. The only words that reached him were the ones that had been repeating inside of his own head since the moment he had watched her life get snuffed out. _'She died not knowing the truth. You remembered everything and never told her even when she brought it up. Now it's too late.'_

Time suddenly sped back up to normal speed before his sister's body disappeared beneath the roiling clouds. He struggled to maintain rational thought against the tidal wave of emotion that threatened to consume him. No matter what, he absolutely _could not_ let her death be in vain. In order to do that he needed to keep resisting the urge to charge blindly in and stick to the plan. Whatever Trunks had waiting in store just _had_ to be worth something. Why else would he be so confident in approaching his own arch enemy with it? In an incredible display of self control, Seventeen backed away from the guy who was still gloating about having murdered his sister and decided to pick up where he had left off. With a burst of energy, he blasted upward to continue his ascent while counting on the fact that Thirteen would follow.

The android with the most deadly and unlucky (for his opponents) designation continued to laugh out loud as he watched Seventeen make a break for it. He wasn't the least bit worried about the last living cyborg fulfilling his plan. After all, he had just acquired another power source. With one last chuckle, he grinned down at the device held in his blood soaked hand and then pushed it against his chest. That grin immediately flipped upside down when the cyborg reactor failed to absorb. "What the hell?" he muttered to himself before glancing back up toward Seventeen, who was already distant enough to appear as merely a large spec against the deep blue of the upper atmosphere. "Shit!" he added before hastily propelling himself into a pursuing trajectory.

It didn't take long for Seventeen to reach the atmosphere's outer limits but, once he got there, he realized he was in trouble. There wasn't any sign or indication of what his next move should be. Did that mean he shouldn't have left Trunks back on the surface? Was this surprise something that he couldn't set in motion without the kid? Whatever the case may have been, it no longer mattered. Seventeen realized that his time was up as he watched his pursuer arrive. With his wit's end long surpassed and the last vestiges of his hope leaving him, he struggled to hold his head up. _'This can't be how it ends...it just can't...'_

And it wasn't.

A burst of golden light, a yell, and the glint of a blade accompanied the sudden return of none other than the very last living Super Saiyan as he flickered into visibility right behind android Thirteen while in the midst of a downward swing with his sword that was cloaked in the writhing fire of his transformative energy. The slice itself didn't actually manage to break through blue skin, but the force of the blow did make his foe flinch in surprise - which gave him just enough time to finish his maneuver. Golden energy erupted from the tip of his sword as he hurled it into the most powerful stabbing thrust he could manage. The strength of his point blank, and ultra thin, concentrated Ki wave was just enough to tenderize the android's synthetic skin in that single spot so that his blade finally penetrated and went clean through his back to emerge out of his abdomen. That was, however, everything he had left. His transformation fizzled out immediately afterward and left him lacking the strength to withdraw his own blade from his foe's body.

Both Seventeen's fighting spirit and his hope for victory were rebooted when the brat's sword tip burst out from Thirteen's gut. So, when said android howled, not with pain, and rounded on the now defenseless Saiyan to exact his revenge for actually injuring him, Seventeen was already on the move. He pushed Trunks away from Thirteen with an invisible kiai and thus made the large android's spinning back-fist hit nothing but air. _'That's right,'_ he thought as the monster's attention became divided.

Trunks quickly got over the shock of having been rescued by his loathed cyborg ally and immediately put distance between himself and Thirteen by flying beyond Earth's atmospheric barrier. He made sure to hold in what last breath he could get before entering the vacuum. Unlike his Kryptonian friend, he would last only a few minutes in such a harsh environment - probably less now that he wasn't a Super Saiyan. He shot off a few weak blasts at Thirteen to goad him into following. It worked. _'Come on, Kara...'_ he thought as he searched for her while keeping an eye on Thirteen who was being slowed down by Seventeen's salvo of energy blasts.

The Kryptonian had no way of hearing Trunks' silent call for her as she blazed passed the planet Venus with a tangible sphere of barely restrained red energy encasing her body. With her hands still over her eyes, she focused on the path before her by using her X-Ray vision. Daring to try it, she used her telescopic ability to magnify her view of Earth until it encompassed a much larger portion of her perspective. She spotted the trailing explosions of Ki blasts light up the planet's low orbital zone and instinctively zoomed in to see Seventeen peppering their mutual nemesis with energy while keeping Trunks mostly out of the way. Both young men looked worse for wear and Trunks wasn't even in Super Mode anymore. The real surprise, however, was the sword that impaled the blue antagonist. That was a good sign. She kept her attention trained on the rapidly approaching battlefield and, within moments, no longer needed to employ her visual magnification. Unfortunately, she couldn't risk tipping Thirteen off by giving Trunks a warning of her arrival, so she had to time it just right._ 'Come on...come on...please get out of the way,' _she chanted inside of her own head as her two allies darted around her target in a deadly dance._ 'THERE!' _she shouted internally, having found her opening.

The floodgates of hellish solar fury were thrown open as Kara removed her hands and let all of her pent up energy rocket toward the unsuspecting android. The beam, which had the diameter of the sphere that surrounded her body, slammed into her foe near instantaneously before obscuring him with it's all consuming intensity. She had never experienced a greater feeling of release than in that moment and, as the torrential wave of her effort continued to flow, she doubted she ever would again.

Trunks and Seventeen were nearly blown away by the shockwave of invisible force that was projected along with Kara's special delivery. They watched in awe as the blast washed over Thirteen then grazed Earth's atmosphere, as it continued traveling, before ending in a massive explosion when it reached the moon. There was no doubt in either of their heads about the android's fate.

The Saiyan managed to tear his eyes away from what was soon to be a shower of rocks and dust headed their way just in time to witness Kara's luminous red cloak dissolve as she ran out of puff. He waved her over with a hand before gesturing that he was about to lose his breath and then quickly angled his flight back down toward the life sustaining atmosphere. As the air thickened around him, he heard two additional sonic booms - indicating the re-entry of his two comrades in arms. Within minutes, he was close enough to solid ground that he had to slow his descent and level off. He touched down in the wasteland just outside of Orange Star city limits. Seconds later, the Kryptonian and the cyborg joined him.

Instead of celebration, a silent tension settled over the group as Kara and her Saiyan friend exchanged cautious glances with each other while facing Seventeen.

"Stop staring already," Seventeen snapped. "I've had about all the fighting I can take for one day and now my sister is _dead_. So, if it's all the same to you, I prefer to be left alone. We can go back to trying to kill each other some other time," he added. Both teenagers visibly relaxed in response to his words, he noticed. He slowly levitated himself off of the dried up soil in preparation to fly away. "See ya around," he said before blasting off.

"I still hate that guy..." Trunks muttered as he watched Seventeen ascend at a leisurely pace. "Hey, _watch_ it," he said, rubbing his left shoulder after Kara punched it playfully. "I'm running on fumes, okay?"

"We did it!" Kara exclaimed excitedly as a beaming smile spread across her face. "We _won_, Trunks. We just saved an entire planet! Sorry about your moon, by the way..." she added quickly as she replayed the explosive scene in her head. "But I was _so so_ pumped! I can't believe I actually held it in for so long! Trunks are you listening?" she asked when she noticed him staring at her with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Kara, your nose is bleeding," the Saiyan replied with worry evident in his tone. "You didn't notice?"

"Huh?" the blonde replied as she reached a hand up to touch her upper lip and came away with a gob of blood. "That's weird, I feel...fine..." she said softly as her head began to swim. All of a sudden everything went dark as a feeling of weightlessness came over her. She heard the distant noise of someone calling her name as she drifted off.

"Kara!" Trunks called as he held her off of the ground. "Kara, wake up! _KARA!_"

xxxxxvvvvvvvxxxxx

And that's a wrap for my number three chap! I'm a poet and didn't know it, lol.

HERE'S EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED THE SECOND CHAPTER:

Hybrid potato

Ulquiorra Schiffer 007

Chris

moshe30350redstar

Superman

heroman45

itheone - btw, if anyone hasn't read THE BURNING WORLD, I recommend it!

Screaming Dean, Rocco13, and Radio Driver (who have stuck with me a long time) I owe you guys many thanks

Neobahamut86 - special thanks for letting me know about Toriyama giving the twins real names

ThatGuy brother of OtherGuy

Sir Thames

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

QUESTION AREA: There was surprisingly only two questions asked of me during the last chapter's reviews and I believe I've already answered one in this very chapter. Thirteen got his country ass blown away by a supercharged solar death ray!

As for Cell making an appearance - he will definitely show up eventually and play a big part in the future of this story.

Now, I have a couple of question for everyone reading this;  
>WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THE PROGRESSION OF TRUNKS AND KARA'S FRIENDSHIP SO FAR?<p>

HOW GOOD OR BAD WAS MY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT DURING THIS CHAPTER?

Feel free to answer (or don't, if you prefer) in reviews and PM's. Thanks again for reading! See you next time.


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